A desperate lunge for on-topic-ness

[Roy Smith]

In article <k61i2o$63u$1 at reader1.panix.com>,
 Grant Edwards <invalid at invalid.invalid> wrote:

> On 2012-10-21, Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:
> > On Sun, 21 Oct 2012 22:43:07 +1100, Chris Angelico wrote:
> >
> >> On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 9:00 PM, Steven D'Aprano
> >> <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:
> >>> Er, no. Note spelling of "source code" vs "souce code". Hence the grin.
> >> 
> >> Ahh. I totally didn't see that, I'm way too used to reading past typos.
> >
> > As a programmer, doesn't that screw up your debugging ability?
> 
> Indeed it does.

The human brain is amazingly good at real-time error correction.  For 
the most part, this improves communication since it lets people make all 
sorts of minor errors in both spoken and written language without 
seriously degrading comprehension.

The down-side is that you hear (and read) what you're expecting to hear 
(or read).  This makes us really suck as things like finding typos in 
variable names.

> I spent a half hour the other day trying to figure out what was wrong
> with a line of PHP code, when it was nothing but a mis-spelled
> variable name.  [I've only been working with PHP a short time, but
> have quickly grown to dislike it.]

Of course, the same can happen in Python.  I could do:

foo = "default value"
if blah == 47:
   fooo = "some other value"
print foo

No syntax error, no NameError, just the wrong thing printing.  This does 
not in any way detract from the fact that PHP is a horrible language.  
Trust me, if you continue to use it, your dislike for it will only grow.  
It is truly evil.  Have you discovered "unexpected 
T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM" yet?